Sunday 20th November saw no less than 11 Exmouth Harriers storm Castle Drogo en masse. No, they had not turned militant, they were in fact there to tackle the Drogo 10. This is an extremely tough, 10 mile race that takes place within the grounds of Castle Drogo in Drewsteignton. The route offers a wide variety of running surface to keep the runners guessing. These include rutted muddy tracks, fields, steep zig-zag paths, a suspension bridge and even a cattle grid is thrown in for good measure! Due to this and to the steepness of the climbs and descents, the race tends to attract some high quality competition at the top end. The weather on the day started off looking ominous but the cloud lifted just in time as around 500 hardy souls toed the start line and prepared to charge off down the main castle drive. Of the 495 eventual finishers, all the Harriers were well placed.
Anchoring them home was the in-form Jamie Palmer, who ran superbly to finish in 1.10.41: a good time on such a tough course and it saw Jamie place 19th overall and 4th MV40. Next in was the ever-consitent Mike Musgrove, 26th overall and 7th MV40 in 1.11.34. He was shortly followed by Richard Bishop in 1.13.56. This secured him 36th place overall and 9th MV45: a very strong category on the day with 3 of the top 4 finishers coming from this age group.
Jon Garrity ran well for 59th place in a time of 1.16.35. Chris Dupain also made the top 100 finishers, 94th in 1.21.49. His sister Emma wasn't too far behind him, having a solid run for 130th position overall and a hard earned 12th spot in the female race in 1.25.02. Scott Jordan was hot on Emma's heels, 8 places behind her in 1.25.49. Next in was Terry Oldham, 157th in 1.27.20, followed by Ben White, 183rd in 1.30.34. Lorraine Gilson ran well for 215th in 1.34.13, which placed her well up the rankings in her female vet 50 category. Rounding off a collection of fine performances for the Harriers was Dawn Teed, 346th in 1.46.23.
The race was won by Ceri Rees of Poole Runners in an impressive 1.01.22.
Exe-rated runners!
The successful Harriers team, en masse, at the Erme Valley Relays, July 2013
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